First, a
brief introduction- I am Dr. Lee Stadtlander, I have worked at Walden since
2005 and been the coordinator of the health psychology program since 2009. I
have mentored many doctoral students, with 6 graduates in 2012. I have heard
every possible question that you can think of, there are no dumb questions! If
you don’t understand something, I am sure that you are not alone, and others
would benefit from the answer.
Let's
begin with an over view of the process of the dissertation. Today, I will
discuss the first step, the premise; this is a short paper that lays out your
thinking on your topic, and some basics on the method that you will use in your
project. The premise is often used as a recruiting tool for your chair and
committee member. Some things to understand about this use of the premise,
faculty will be looking at your writing (including spelling and grammar), so it
is worth spending time on this aspect. You can run it by the writing center's
editors to make sure it is as clear as possible.
It is
important to be open to faculty's suggestions and comments, but also realize
the most important person you will need to listen to is your chair. There are
typically no absolutely correct answers on research design, there are many
options. Be prepared to negotiate and discuss issues.
As a
side note on recruiting your committee, be sure that you send an individual
email (not a mass one) to faculty. Make sure you proofread and check spelling
and grammar on your recruitment email; it is your introduction to your
committee. You can find out which faculty are available for dissertations by
writing to Dr. Elisha Galaif <elisha.galaif@waldenu.edu>, she maintains
the psychology faculty list.
Typically,
you will use the premise as the basis of your prospectus. More about that next
time.
When is the appropriate time to start sending emails to faculty to get a committee together?
ReplyDeleteLorri,
DeleteThe quarter before you plan to start dissertation class is a good time to begin recruiting faculty. All you need to start is your chair, you can recruit the committee later the first quarter. If you have problems (after getting the current faculty list from Dr. Galaif and sending out emails), contact your program coordinator for advice. Sometimes, some tweaking of your premise and recruiting email can help (I am also willing to do this for health psych students BEFORE they start recruiting).
My dissertation is with URR for a final review before oral defense. I've always been a little bugged that the way to get the faculty availability list is a manual process. Poor Dr. Galaif must get 50 emails a day just for those requests.
ReplyDeleteAlso, a hint for some of us that don't quite understand the polite brushoff - many faculty will tell you that they cannot take any more students at the moment. Often, they mean that they don't want to work on your project for some reason. They're just being nice about it.
Andrew,
DeleteI agree that it would be nice for the list updates not to have to be manually done, but since the list changes frequently, we are stuck with it! Just to give you an example from the "other side"- I may have one opening as a chair, and my name is added to the list. It is possible that within a day or so I agree to take on a new student- filling that opening. Then my name needs to be removed from the list.
I also add caution to assuming that that you are being brushed off. Faculty have been explicitly told by the administration not to do that. Many times a faculty member limits the number of students they are willing to chair, and when those spots are filled, they are no longer available. If you have problems recruiting a committee member, please see my previous post to Lorri.
Thank you for this blog. It is good to have connection with a facculty member who is interested in helping students with the dissertation process. My question is since I have not been to the final residencies, how much of the time is spent on preparing for the dissertation?
ReplyDeleteHi Odetojoy,
DeleteThe third residency covers the most on the dissertation. Residency 4 is supposed to be taken during the dissertation process, it covers publications and presentations (preparing you for post dissertation).
Dr. Stadtlander
DeleteThank you for the blog! I am in one of those "valleys" in the dissertation journey. It is the organization valley. I like the orgvalley! I know in the next couple of days I will be climbing again as I return to chapters 1-3.
Geary
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